Extract

The Subcommittee on Biological Experiments of the British National Committee on Space Research organized three symposia (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 171, 3 (1968); 179, 171 (1791); 189, 139 (1975)) on processes that, although they could be studied on Earth, may have a bearing on space research. The present symposium dealt with a situation that has no prolonged terrestrial counterpart – the neutralization of Earth’s gravitation by centrifugal acceleration. When Spacelab is suitably positioned, objects within it float freely and are subjected to only those stresses that we wish to apply. The situation differs fundamentally from that experienced by objects rotated on Earth about a horizontal axis. Gravitation is not then neu­tralized, it is merely applied from continually changing directions. Many effects of gravitation on the physiology and morphology of animals and plants have been described. The mechanisms of these responses could be studied by experiments made in the absence of gravitation. Some of those who described their work suggested that the results of similar work in Spacelab would be rather trivial when compared to the vast expense of putting the laboratory into orbit. This apologetic attitude probably arises because we, our plants, our animals, and the cells of which we are all composed, happen to be very small compared to the weather patterns, stars and nebulae with which space research is otherwise concerned. The examination of weather patterns is useful: none of the other research projects suggested for Spacelab are as potentially useful as the biological studies. Apart from usefulness, there is pure scientific interest. Biologists tend not to correlate interest with size. We do much more work on microorganisms than on giraffes or whales. Perhaps physicists and engineers would take more interest in biological experiments if we proposed breeding giraffes in orbit to see whether their hearts could manage the blood supply in a still longer neck! To a biologist, what goes on inside an organism is much more interesting, exciting, and relevant than what goes on in the remoter parts of the Universe.

Footnotes

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